UT football: Longhorns have trust issues

AUSTIN — Immediately after Texas’ disastrous 28-21 loss to Iowa State on Saturday, an infuriated Longhorns coach Mack Brown surprised some people with his blunt assessment of his team and staff.

Two days later, he hadn’t mellowed much.

Brown reiterated Monday that he is having a difficult time trusting his players and assistant coaches this season because he can’t depend on his team to play with passion ever week. He said he told his assistants Sunday that his comments about a lack of trust should be taken seriously.

“If you’re coaching a position, and your position isn’t doing a good job every week, then I can’t trust you’re doing a good job coaching,” Brown said he told his coaches. “If one of your guys is playing bad, I can change him. If three of your guys are playing bad, I’ve gotta change you.”

Offensive coordinator Greg Davis is the assistant receiving the bulk of the criticism from outside the program, as his unit’s production has plummeted to 80th nationally in scoring, 71st in total yards and 73rd in rushing.

Davis has been inundated with questions about running back D.J. Monroe, who is averaging 11.7 yards per carry this season but has touched the ball on offense just once in the past two games combined. Davis repeatedly said Monroe is a liability in pass protection, but admitted Monday he still needs to find a way to get Monroe involved.

“I don’t know what else to tell you,” Davis said. “It was my fault. I’ve got to get him involved in some situations.”

Still, Davis said utilizing Monroe is more complicated than outsiders think, and took a verbal jab at the media for the questions about his running back usage.

“I might not be the smartest guy in this room, but I can match IQs with most of you,” Davis said.